Who will win the gold medals in basketball at the Paris Olympics?
Nikita Biryukov July 26, 2024, 14:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Maybe the Americans will walk away with the money.
Boston has been crowned champion, the NBA draft has been held, and the NBA Summer League has concluded, where young players have tried to prove their worth. Now it’s time for the truly important tournament of the summer: the Paris Olympics. The 12 best teams in the world have come to France, and each of them wants only one thing: victory. But the Olympic gold will go to only one national team. So who?
The “Championship” aims to determine the winner of the Paris Olympics and the teams that will take the remaining places in the prestigious world tournament. During the voting, the teams will be allocated places; the rating depends entirely on the votes of the readers of the “Championship” and is formed online.
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Important: The “Ranking” feature only works in the regular version of the “Championship”. If you accessed this material through the search page, you will only see the generated list without voting buttons.
Ranking: Who will win gold medals in basketball at the 2024 Olympics?
Photo: fiba.basketball
South Sudan
The African team is ranked worst in the FIBA rankings among all teams represented at the Olympics: 33rd place. South Sudan has naturalized several Americans and the team has recently made a qualitative leap in its results. The national team played in the 2023 FIBA World Cup and qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in history.
Photo: usab.com
USA
The most decorated team in Olympic history (16 gold, one silver and two bronze medals) – this is all about the US team. The Americans were left without awards only once – in 1980, when they boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Steve Kerr’s team has probably assembled the best possible lineup, including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Haliburton and Derrick White. Whoever the name is, he is an NBA star. Naturally, the main goal of such an eminent team will be only gold at the 2024 Olympics.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Greece
The famous European team has not competed at the Olympics since 2008. The national team, led by Vassilis Spanoulis, came to the Olympics through the qualifying tournament, where they did not suffer a single defeat, crushing their opponents. Giannis Antetokounmpo stands out at the helm of Greece. The leader of the Milwaukee Bucks helped his team, so to speak, rise from the ashes and now, most likely, he is expecting an excellent performance in Paris. The Greeks have an excellent team, let’s see where it all leads.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Serbia
Our Slavic brothers made it to the Olympics because they took second place at the last World Championship. The team, even without its main superstar Nikola Jokic, showed an excellent level of basketball, stopping just one step away from the coveted trophy. But the Joker himself will come to the Paris Olympics, which should motivate Serbia. The national team in 1996 and 2016 took second place in the most prestigious tournament among national teams.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Canada
The Maple Leafs brought an incredibly strong lineup to France, which included Shea Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Luguentz Dort, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Andrew Nembard. Each of them has already proven themselves in the NBA, and Gilgeous-Alexander came within a whisker of winning the MVP award, losing only to Nikola Jokic. At the last FIBA World Championship, Canada lost to Serbia in the semifinals and beat the United States in the third-place game, finishing with bronze medals.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Spain
Sergio Scariolo’s team, like Greece, reached the 2024 Olympics through the qualifying tournament. In the group, Spain did not face the most formidable rivals – Lebanon and Angola, but in the final part of the qualification they beat serious rivals – Finland and the Bahamas. The team has only one NBA player, Santi Aldama, and the rest play in the Euroleague and other European championships. Also standing out is Rudy Fernández, for whom the Paris Olympics will be the sixth. No basketball player in history had managed to play in six Olympic Games in his career.
Photo: fiba.basketball
France
The team that hosts the Olympic Games is always under enormous pressure. France took second place in Tokyo and the team at the home tournament is expected to at least repeat this result or even win. After all, the French have a very strong squad with Victor Vembanyama at the helm. The kid turned 20 and only lazy people haven’t heard of him in the NBA. In addition, France has a defensive monster in Rudy Gobert and incredibly experienced NBA players Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier. Much is expected of the European team, because France failed at the last World Cup and did not make it out of the group.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Germany
The biggest sensation of 2023 is likely to be Germany. The team unexpectedly won the World Basketball Championship, beating Latvia, the USA and Serbia in the playoffs. The core of the triumphant team remained: Dennis Schröder, Franz and Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Johannes Voigtmann, Daniel Theis and Andreas Obst all in action. The best result of the Germans at the Olympic Games was seventh place in 1992, and now the team can improve this figure.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Australia
There were and are many talented basketball players in Australia. Now the team is led by Patrick Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Joe Ingles, veterans who played in the NBA. But the team also has youngsters who deserve a lot of attention: Josh Green, Josh Giddy, Dante Exum and others. Australia took third place at the Tokyo Olympics, the best result in the history of the national team. This time, a team from an entire continent is bringing a team that combines experience and youth to Paris.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Puerto Rico
The team has not participated in the Olympics since 2004. Puerto Rico’s best result was fourth place back in 1964. The team performed well at the 2023 FIBA World Championship, when it placed 12th out of 32 teams in the tournament. Puerto Rico has José Alvarado, a player for the New Orleans Pelicans, who in many ways leads the team. The team also includes players from the Spanish championship.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Japan
In 2024, a miracle happened: for the first time in 88 years, the Japanese team defeated China! This happened in a qualifying match for the 2025 Asian Cup. The only Asian team at the 2024 Olympics has two NBA players on its roster: Rui Hachimura (Los Angeles Lakers) and Yuta Watanabe (Memphis Grizzlies). Japan’s best result at the Olympics was ninth place in 1936. At their home Olympics, the Japanese took 11th place.
Photo: fiba.basketball
Brazil
The only South American representative at the 2024 Olympics made it through the qualifying tournament in Riga. In the group stage, the team won against Montenegro and lost to Cameroon. But in the qualifiers, Brazil bounced back and easily beat the Philippines and Latvia. The current team cannot be said to have a great squad with big names, but it does contain workhorses who can do everything possible to achieve the desired goal. Brazil has won bronze medals at the Olympic Games three times in history, but the South American team finished ninth at its home tournament in 2016.
